Do you eat the British way or the North American way?

[gsdx]

omg.

I know.

When I caught my niece and nephew doing this...we had 'the talk'. There are now actually courses being offered for 20 somethings in etiquette...including how to eat with utensils correctly.

I despair.

I've noticed that people who eat with their hand wrapped around the utensil are often 'guzzlers' or 'shovellers'. They can't seem to get the food to their mouths fast enough.

 

[Pierresro]

The American way for me I lived in London, England for 15 years. One Sunday my partner and I were out with a husband and wife or dinner. He stared unbelievably and said why do you eat that way. He had no idea how the Americans did it. I now live in Spain for those that do not know it, in the 40's in the states a person was found out to be A German Nazi becuase he was acting and talking like American and not using a fork and knife as we do. What drove me crazy in Englandd Australia they do not use a fork like a scoop but eat off the back of it and eat foods an times off a knife!

 

[yhtang]

I am of Chinese descent. Rice is my staple, and I eat Chinese food. The reason for bringing up Chinese food is that generally, Chinese food is cut to small and easily manageable pieces, which eliminates the use of knifes.

So I eat with fork and spoon instead of fork and knife. Rice and food is pushed onto the spoon, and I eat from the spoon.

If I am served rice in a bowl as opposed to a plate, I am quite efficient with chopsticks and I manage very well indeed.

If I am eating curry and rice served on a banana leaf, I would consume my food using my fingers.

 

[NotHardUp1]

What is missed in the chopsticks/flatware discussion is that Western etiquette forbids the accepted use of chopsticks, which is used as a raking motion when food is not selectable as pieces. Observing Chinese and others eat small foods like rice, it is obvious that raising the bowl to the mouth and raking is the accepted method in the East.

in the West, anything that appears to be raising a bowl or plate to the mouth is taboo. Anything that rakes food from the dish is taboo. The motion is associated with haste which is taboo.

I like chopsticks and do rake when the dish calls for it, but many Westerners are timid and cannot escape the half-use techniques that render chopsticks woeful for them.

We shouldn't be hung up on eating etiquette when we are dining on international fare. When in Rome . . .

For domestic foods, hosts have every right to expect traditional etiquette.

 

[Willie Boy]

in the West, anything that appears to be raising a bowl or plate to the mouth is taboo. Anything that rakes food from the dish is taboo. The motion is associated with haste which is taboo.

Have you seen the way many Americans eat their meals? Especially fast food? It is picked up and stuffed in the mouth, the next bite often shoved into the mouth before the previous one is even half chewed! There is no taboo on haste. As for raising the bowl from the table, I've seen that done often, even done it myself. Or are you considering British sensibilities to be the epitome of the West when it comes to eating habits?

 

[Latimer]

^
I've never seen American adults eating this way, nor raising the bowl from the table, unless in Asian restaurants.

 

[cityboy-stl]

omg.

I know.

When I caught my niece and nephew doing this...we had 'the talk'. There are now actually courses being offered for 20 somethings in etiquette...including how to eat with utensils correctly.

I despair.

Weird. Where are their parents? My parents taught me how to eat with utensils starting when I could first pick them up. Geez.

 

[freefall]

What is missed in the chopsticks/flatware discussion is that Western etiquette forbids the accepted use of chopsticks, which is used as a raking motion when food is not selectable as pieces. Observing Chinese and others eat small foods like rice, it is obvious that raising the bowl to the mouth and raking is the accepted method in the East.

I like chopsticks and do rake when the dish calls for it, but many Westerners are timid and cannot escape the half-use techniques that render chopsticks woeful for them.

Actually, the correct way to eat with chopsticks NEVER involves raking/shoveling motion. Trust me. There isn't a strict rule/custom against this, but if you really master the way of using chopsticks, then you should have no difficulty carrying bunches of rice/porridge to your mouth without resorting to raking. Also, raking/shoveling food with chopsticks are considered crude behaviour. Not impolite, not improper, just plain crude (i.e. uneducated/crude people).

For rice-based products, it lies in that East Asian people usually consume rice that is slighty sticky so that it could be picked up in small clumps without breaking apart. The same rice, when cooked appropriately with the right amount of water, will also result in porridge that are quite viscous they can be picked without flowing away excessively from the grasp but not clumpy to the point like polenta cooked with too little water.

In other words, those who use chopsticks properly can eat almost anything without shoveling/raking the food*. The type of food doesn't dictate how one uses chopsticks to eat. If you have difficulty taking food of all sizes and types with chopsticks, or have to eventually rake the food, your chopsticks form is bad.

*Exceptions only for:
- Liquids (like soups minus the solid bits or porridge watered down to an extreme degree),
- Food that are so fragile they easily crumble or break apart (like very soft silk tofu and very soft agar-agar),
- Food that have small and very loose particle consistency and don't form small lumps (like sesame, semolina, sorghum, quinoa, and finely ground peanuts).
Even for these food, people opt to using spoons (or for soups, when eating at home, simply slurp off the bowl). It's perfectly normal to use both spoon and chopsticks to eat in Asian countries. There should be no shame in using additional cutlery when needed.

Even then, my parents can pick every single sesame seed with a very pointy-ended pair of chopsticks.

 

[yhtang]

Actually, the correct way to eat with chopsticks NEVER involves raking/shoveling motion. Trust me. There isn't a strict rule/custom against this, but if you really master the way of using chopsticks, then you should have no difficulty carrying bunches of rice/porridge to your mouth without resorting to raking. Also, raking/shoveling food with chopsticks are considered crude behaviour. Not impolite, not improper, just plain crude (i.e. uneducated/crude people).

For rice-based products, it lies in that East Asian people usually consume rice that is slighty sticky so that it could be picked up in small clumps without breaking apart. The same rice, when cooked appropriately with the right amount of water, will also result in porridge that are quite viscous they can be picked without flowing away excessively from the grasp but not clumpy to the point like polenta cooked with too little water.

In other words, those who use chopsticks properly can eat almost anything without shoveling/raking the food*. The type of food doesn't dictate how one uses chopsticks to eat. If you have difficulty taking food of all sizes and types with chopsticks, or have to eventually rake the food, your chopsticks form is bad.

*Exceptions only for:
- Liquids (like soups minus the solid bits or porridge watered down to an extreme degree),
- Food that are so fragile they easily crumble or break apart (like very soft silk tofu and very soft agar-agar),
- Food that have small and very loose particle consistency and don't form small lumps (like sesame, semolina, sorghum, quinoa, and finely ground peanuts).
Even for these food, people opt to using spoons (or for soups, when eating at home, simply slurp off the bowl). It's perfectly normal to use both spoon and chopsticks to eat in Asian countries. There should be no shame in using additional cutlery when needed.

Even then, my parents can pick every single sesame seed with a very pointy-ended pair of chopsticks.

^ All true. Since it is assumed that well off people are never that hungry as to need to shovel food from bowl into mouth with chopsticks, it is deemed unrefined to do so.

However, in many families, eating this way is commonly done at home. Of course, one tries to remember not to do so in polite company.

And indeed, rice that is a bit sticky (tends to cost more) is easier to pick up using chopsticks.